F1 Fanatic round-up: 8/6/2010

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The Red Bull and McLaren stories from last week still won’t go away. Later today I’m going to be talking to McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh and I’m sure there’ll be more questions about it then.

Here’s today’s round-up:

Links

New evidence to explain Hamilton’s displeasure (BBC)

“I hear another interesting fact, as well. Red Bull said after the race that Webber had asked the team to slow Vettel down. But that is not accurate. Having noticed Vettel was quicker than him on the straight, Webber had actually asked whether Vettel was on the same engine settings as him. I understand the team and Webber will make this clear in Canada this weekend.” The plot just keeps thickening.

No Button/Hamilton orders in Turkey (Autosport)

“Proof of the need to slow Hamilton down came after the race, when McLaren discovered that he had less than one lap’s worth left in his car – while Button had just a little more.”

Formula One racetrack designer was recruited for an Austin racing venture once before (The Statesman)

Austin F1 Grand Prix promoter Tavo Hellmund: “Formula One’s requirements are so stringent. If you look over 15 years, the people that haven’t used Tilke end up hiring him to fix or complete the things that weren’t done… I don’t think we’re going to have any issues.”

Comment of the day

Lots of opinions yesterday on whether Kimi Raikkonen will ever come back to Formula 1. Alianora la Canta is one of many who thinks he won’t:

I don’t think Kimi will ever return to F1 for one simple reason: he enjoys rallying more. Kimi has always been a fun-loving driver who races best when his heart is in it. In the latter half of his F1 career his heart only seemed to be in it if there was a result to chase. Having now found his joy in racing again, Kimi is now at his best all the time (except when crashing, and everyone in rallying crashes sometimes!)

I think Kimi will spend a decade in top-line rallying (maybe longer if his body’s up to it), win at least two WRC titles, become renowned for his versatility more than his exploits in any one series and generally be a happy, fulfilled racer. It’s probably just as well that F1 bosses don’t seem to want Kimi because he is more indifferent to them now than they ever will be to him.
Alianora la Canta

Happy birthday!

No F1 Fanatic birthdays today. If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

The last Canadian Grand Prix was held on this day in 2008. Robert Kubica scored his first F1 win at the track where he had crashed horribly just one year earlier.

The 2008 race was another exciting affair, with Lewis Hamilton wiping out himself and reigning champion Kimi Raikkonen by crashing into the Ferrari in the pit lane.

Check out this video from a fan in the stands with a HD camera who saw it all happen:

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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45 comments on “F1 Fanatic round-up: 8/6/2010”

  1. Proof of the need to slow Hamilton down came after the race, when McLaren discovered that he had less than one lap’s worth left in his car – while Button had just a little more.

    I don’t see it as proof at all. The disparity could have come about from the fact that after their battle on-track, Button dropped back from Hamilton by a considerable distance. Going slower may have left him more fuel at the end of the race.

    But then I don’t believe in the conspiracy anyway.

    1. I guess it depends on what is meant by ‘a little more’: does that mean half a lap? Two laps?

      Surely the point about the fuel is not how much Hamilton had in relation to Button, but the fact that he had less than a lap left. Even if Button had half a tank left it wouldn’t have made a difference to Hamilton’s car.

      To me this shows that Button had saved enough through the race to have one go at making a pass stick, but once Hamilton had got back past him his fuel levels were also too marginal for him to make another attempt – hence the degree that Button backed off afterwards.

      1. The way I see it, what happened is that Hamilton had to start saving fuel before Button. Worried about Button overtaking him, he asked if this would happen and was told No. That was an error, made worse by Hamilton taking Turn 8 far slower than his engineer thought.

        But if I was a conspiracy theorist, I would say that Hamilton was misled and Button passed him. Hamilton then re-passed him, but any more dicing would lead to both cars running out if fuel. Abandoning the conspiracy, McLaren told Button to back off a lot more so as to make him finish with more fuel. Which is rubbish, of course.

        1. I think they had both been saving fuel from quite early on. Both drivers were told to take it easy through turn 8, that was were the problem started.
          The issue of Button having more fuel than Hamilton at the end of the race was explained appropriately but the first comment.
          And I think not being specific about how much more fuel button had over Hamilton, was a deliberate attempt to imply that Button actually had much more fuel, when in actual fact it may just have been sufficient to further by an extra 2 meters.

          1. I meant sufficient to go further by 2 meters

  2. Great video, love the sound of the crowd when they collide.

    1. lol yeah..
      You can clearly hear someone go “Ohh yes, Hahahaha” and others laugh to..
      Also it happens very fast I do not recall it look like it happen so fast from the TV pictures. Maybe just my mind stuck in slow motion tonight… LOL

      1. I agree, it does seem very fast.

        No excuse to Hamilton, but when I saw that video I was really caught thinking ‘wow, he just had no time to stop’. Admittedly, he should have been paying attention to the pit exit lights, but still…

        1. Yeah, I agree. I think that the TV has the effect of slowing the racing down. That’s why I find that non-F1 races often seem incredibly slow.

          1. If you are paying attention to the red light you cant see the car ahead of you.
            Usually when a driver is faced with such a situation, is when he is coming to line up on the grid and he knows no other driver will suddenly take off b4 him.

            I think As Kimi inched slightly ahead of Kubica to gain an advantage, Lewis probably thought the lights had turned green.

            I said this immediately the incident occurred, the driver races out of his pit box as fast as he can, then suddenly begins to slow down, he initially is unable to see the pitlane red light until he gets close to the end at which point he also must focus on the drivers ahead to get a reference on where to park his car.
            I believe that was the only time when you had more a row of cars exiting the pitlane.

    2. Those were not Ferrari or McLaren supporters, were they?

      I liked that bit as well.

  3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z0cjfBsyAU&fmt=18

    natural sound footage of the vettel webber crash. if you turn your volume up really loud you can hear Vettel swearing (in english i think)… can anyone work out what he says?

    1. When the car goes silent, I think he says “What are we doing here?!” After that, I can’t make out what he says.

    2. Great find!

      Ok put my headphones on…

      The first thing he says is ” What the F are we doing here?”

      I cant tell what the second phrase is..

      The third i think is “How stupid of him.”

      And I cant decipher the last phrase before he pulls the wheel. But yeah I wont expect anything less from someone who just crash out of a GP.

      1. UneedAFinn2Win
        8th June 2010, 11:48

        I pulled the audio from that to Audacity, here’s what i got:

        @31:30 “what happened”

        @33:50 “what are we doing here”

        @33:50 “there wasn’t room taking him on outside”
        @39:00 “how stupid of him”

        @41:50 “******* hell…**** this”

      2. Puts up his visor and says: “What are we doing here?!!!!”

        “He knew I was on that side of him!”

        “How stupid of him!”

        “(german cursing)”

        That is what I could hear..

  4. Great video!

    Im in love with the sound that Merc (the Safety car) does!! Incredible how fast it goes. It doesn’t feel that fast on the telly!

    1. The words of the great Murray Walker:

      “Now, the Safety Car is very fast by road-car standards, but it is a TORTOISE compared to a Formula 1 car!”

      1. no kidding. The SC is going flat out and it looks like the F1 cars could dance circles around it.
        So looking back at Malaysia 09 when the SC was out before race was red flagged. the F1 cars had a heck of a time keeping up with it and many still managed to spin off. Then you know it’s going fast and there is lot of water on the track.

        1. I was quite suprised to see how fast safety car is going while on track. Of course, it is nothing compared to formula 1 cars…

    2. I love the marshall’s reaction just infront of the crash, guessing he isnt a Hamilton Fan jumping up and down just afeter the crash!

  5. Ned Flanders
    8th June 2010, 4:01

    Not a particularly insightful comment from me (which isn’t surprising saying as I’ve just came in from a night on the town) but… but I can’t bloody wait for the Canadian Grand Prix! It’s always a great race!

    1. I must say a very intelligent comment (could be smart and add coming from you… ;) ) But you know what… I agree.. Can’t wait for the Canadian Grand Prix. It’s always a great race!

      1. ohh and NOT at 7am for a change!!! YAY I get to sleep in AND see the half an hour pre race show as well. Race at 11am and quali at noon. Sweet. Will have to cut lunch short so I can get back to work and watch PF2 on Friday on my slingbox. ;)

        1. Lucky you. The race is on at 2am Monday morning in Aus

          1. Man, 2am, so it is, I only just noticed that, lucky my mid year break at uni just started, I can sleep in on Monday.

        2. Ned Flanders
          8th June 2010, 11:26

          I pity you Australians/ North Americans, always having to watch races at crazy times. For us Europeans it’s at the perfect time… 5pm. I love the late afternoon races!

          1. hey don’t rub it in ned! but yeah we are lucky. the US grand prix in Austin will be on at like 7pm here in the uk. (if it starts 1pm local time…)

          2. RedBullRacer
            8th June 2010, 23:33

            I moved to Australia earlier this year and I have to say, the races being broadcast at stupid times isn’t really what I have a problem with – it’s the fact that there is no decent pre-race build-up or post-race analysis. I miss the BBC so much!

  6. “New evidence to explain Hamilton’s displeasure (BBC)”

    Should that say Webber?

    1. No, it is about why Lewis was not looking happy on the podium in Turkey.

      The article goes into that and answers some questions before getting back to the Red Bull incident, where some questions were answered, but a lot of questions still remain.

  7. Great video, love the crowds reaction.

    It reminds me of when I was at the Australian GP earlier this year when Vettel was in the sand trap. A picture of the Red Bull from the over head chopper came up on the big screen and the whole crowd fell silent not knowing whether it was Webber or Vettel, then about 2 seconds later the graphics came up on the big screen and the name read S. Vettel. The crowd just absolutely irrupted.

    1. If he puts it in the gravel trap during the rsce next year the eruption of noise from 20 million Ozzies will be heard as far away as London!!!!Krakatoa will be a mere passing of wind.

    2. Magnificent Geoffrey
      8th June 2010, 9:01

      Exactly the same thing happened where we were! I think di Grassi retaking Schumacher got the biggest cheer of the race though…

      That reminds me, I really need to send in those videos I took of the race soon.

  8. Has anyone else seen this yet?
    http://mclaren.com/intro/

    It has the countdown to the Canadian grand prix in terms of various F1 time units.

    It’s currently 137,000 pitstops or 65,700,000 spark plug ignitions till the Canadian grand prix.

    1. The most interesting was the “Updates” clock – “On average, one every 20 min”. That’s 3 updates to the MP4-25 every hour, 24 hours a day throughout the season!

  9. Looks like Todt has finally got tired of the FOTA bickering over tyre suppliers: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/84226

    Personally I’m pleased that this has happened. FOTA are not in a position to agree on anything – yet you can guarantee that if a decision isn’t made soon, it will be the teams that complain even though they are the ones holding up the process.

    Of course, the ideal scenario would be that the teams were able to negotiate individual tyre contracts, but with the silly rule saying that only one tyre supplier is allowed that is not going to happen.

    1. Great idea, a Tender for the tyres. It will take only a few weeks to draft up the tender documents, about a month for offers to be sent to the FIA and FOM, another 2-3 weeks to evaluate these offers, so the decision can be made in about 3 months.

      Who said anything about testing this year and having to compromise on the cars? Sounds horrible.

      To me it seems Todt is closing up to Bernie to get a stronger position over the teams again, after Mosley lost a lot of FIA influence last year.

      As far as i know, the FOM is the one paying the bills, so Bernie has the call on this. He will probably use the teams preferring something to get them to shed some feathers to him before going along.

      1. If FIA/FOM are to decide, why don’t they get a move on! I guess Bernie is indeed busy with it, now he dealt with the US GP.

        It is okay to be tired of FOTA not being able to decide Andy, but as Bas rightly points out, a tender etc. procedure will not help that very much. I think now the teams seem to have decided on the merits of the different suppliers, if FIA wants a say, they should at least use that, and make a decision over the weekend (after all, the majority of FOTA seems to agree on who to go with, so they will not protest).

    2. Todt:”FOTA may suggest that it decides, but the strong man is not he who speaks the loudest.”

      T. Roosevelt, 1901:”Speak softly and carry a big stick.”

      Nice to see Teddy’s legacy is alive and well.

      1. Interesting how that reflects on Todt’s predecessor in his current function, who rarely just spoke softly, and even now, without a stick cannot seem to keep quiet.

        Bernie does know how this works, when he isn’t busy with generating media attention with strange quotes but instead seriously working on a deal.

  10. According to James Allen our beloved FIA president (the actual one, not the mud slinging dumped one) warned F1 drivers to mind their driving, or be faced with consequences for their licences!

    This should make his GF happy, headlines to promote the drive safe campaign.

    True, Lewis Hamilton getting caught in Melbourne for inappropriate behaviour and driving with the drive safe logo on the next day might be seen embarresing. But for whom? It can be seen as doing something in the public interest for a punishment!

    I do think, that dangerous driving should have some effect on track. Quite a different question is, how to do that fairly and reasonably.

    Especially in the case mentioned, there was certainly an element of the government involved seeking some publicity for their strict rules and the team made sure Lewis was embarressed enough over it. A further punishment (with effects on the very nicely developing battle for the WDC) for this would seem misplaced.

    And it is hardly possible to combine a racing licence with the need to have a road car drivers licence, as it would be a major problem for younger guys actually racing without ever doing theirs on the road.

    link: http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2010/06/todt-warns-f1-drivers-to-play-it-safe-on-the-roads/

    1. That last point is a good one I guess. Apart from the speed, I think driving on a circuit is probably relatively saver, as the drivers are less unpredictable, and could be expected to be of a higher average quality.

  11. I’ve found this short video on YouTube of various moments from previous Canadian GP’s. Definitely worth a watch.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNhcbvLtjfk

  12. Haha! “YES GET IN!” Someone really hated Raikkonen in that crowd :P

    Great vid, pity there were some moments I’d have liked to see zoomed in on cam, but I won’t complain.

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